SPIG has brought together a team of highly motivated, experienced and knowledgeable individuals with expertise in different core competencies.
Master Architect - Head of the Design and Creative Division
A California Native, Mr. Jones brings with him over 30 years of experience in the fields of Building and Industrial Design, Architecture, and Construction.
As the Managing Partner and Design Principal at Sidley Jones Architects, this full service boutique firm has provided professional services to some of the largest real estate developers in both California and the nation.
The firm’s work has won several awards and accolades, the most prestigious being the 45th Annual Los Angeles Business Council’s Architectural Awards for Renovated Buildings. With an emphasis on creative, sustainable design and responsible development, the Firm’s focus is creative Commercial / Industrial and Multi-Family Residential Projects.
Prior to the formation of Sidley Jones, Mr. Jones spent over twenty years employed by the largest shopping center developer in the world (by equity market capitalization) in a variety of capacities. Fulfilling various roles in their Tenant Coordination, Architecture, Special Projects, and Construction Groups, he has been responsible in part for the successful delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars of projects throughout the United States.
His most recent and notable position was that of Senior Architectural Project Executive for the design, documentation, and delivery of the landmark retail programs for both the Tom Bradley International Terminal and Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport.
Mr. Jones holds a Bachelors (B.Arch) degree from the University of Southern California with a minor emphasis in Real Estate Development. He currently holds valid licenses as an Architect and a General Contractor in the State of California.
Head of Operations and Investments
Mr. Shams brings more than three decades of real estate finance and banking experience.
He recently served as the chief operating officer of a national financial institution and led its subsidiary as the president and the chief executive officer. He introduced a host of strategies to enhance profitability and orchestrated new processes and efficiencies that spurred the most dramatic lending growth in the institution’s history in the commercial and residential lending arenas in major metropolitan markets.
He has been an investment principal for a major national bank, and served several financial institutions as a chief credit officer, head of commercial banking, and head of private banking.
Mr. Shams has worked with some of the largest financial institutions in the nation. He also counseled financial institutions as the chief executive officer for a management consulting firm. He has comprehensive experience and commending knowledge of various real estate markets across the nation.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s of Business Administration with a focus in supply chain management from the University of La Verne in La Verne, California.
Head of Construction Management, Legal and Compliance Division
Brian R. Linnekens has over twenty five years of experience in real estate investment, development and construction.
He is a real estate attorney and also holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, where he studied entrepreneurial real estate. He holds a Bachelor of Science in structural engineering from Swarthmore College and held the position of lead design engineer and field supervisor at a steel fabrication company in northern California.
Mr. Linnekens is a licensed California Real Estate Broker, and also holds a Class B General Contractors license. For over fifteen years, he has been the president and principal shareholder of a Los Angeles based real estate development company with a primary focus on the planning and construction of multiple apartment, retail and mixed-use projects.
These projects include, among others, Citrus Suites ~ Broadway, located 1-1/2 blocks from the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, consisting of 101 luxury apartments over high end retail and three levels of subterranean parking, Citrus Suites ~ Ocean Way, an expansion rehabilitation of a 70-unit apartment project,
The Palm Canyon project in Palm Springs, which is a mixed-use development consisting of up to 125 condominium or apartment units,
“The Bristol House”, 9,000 square foot home, in Brentwood, and, a 4,000 square foot private home in Pacific Palisades